CC - X: Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" Short Question & Answer

 1. In what poetic form is Browning's My last Duchess writer?

 - Robert Browning's My Last Duchess is written in a poetic from call dramatic monologue, here a single speak ( Duke o Ferrara) starts speaking in a particular situation (i.e. when the envoy of the comes to negotiate for the Duke's second marriage); secondly, the presence of a silent listener (namely the envoy); and thirdly, while speaking, the speaker ( here the Duke) reveals his own character.

2.  "This grew ; I gave commands"- Why did the speaker feel compelled to give 'commands'?

-The speaker (the Duke of Ferrara) felt compelled to give 'commands' to an executioner to silence  once and for all the Duchess and her smiles because of his family pride and social status. he had tolerated the indiscriminating attitude on the part of the Duchess day by day  as reflected in terms of thanking others, accepting gifts of others and exchanging smile with others. Though a clever conversations, the Duke's pride, haughtiness and above all, egomania made him feel compelled to kill the lady instead of meeting his wife on equal terms and engaging her in a sincere, heart to heart dialogue

3. "Notice Neptune, though/Taming a sea-horse.."- What does the Duke refer to in the above lines from Browning's poem ? What is the symbolic overtone of this image ?

- Here, the Duke refers to a bronze statue of Neptune (the sea-god) taming a horse, a rare work of art, specially made for him by Clus of Innsbruck.

                 While drawing the attention of the envoy to this piece of sculpture, the Duke once again tries to establish himself as a lover of art but ironically he betrays himself as a husband to dominate over his wife ('taming')     as a male aggressor. This  image symbolically brings out that his wife must submit to his will and whims, otherwise he will 'tame' her like 'Neptune taming a sea-horse'. To be precise, the statue embodies in a concrete form the cardinal characteristics of the Duke-his sense of power, pride, Possessiveness, and connoisseurship.  

4. Which painter is mentioned in "My Last Duchess" and in which connection?   

   - Fra pandolf, an imaginary Renaissance painter from the monastic order, is mentioned in My Last Duchess .

               The Duke mentions Fra Pandolf's name obviously in connection with the life-like painting of the last Duchess to which he draws the attention of the envoy of a count. Moreover, Fra(meaning a friar or monk), a man of renunciation, has been engaged by the duke so as not to develop intimacy with his duchess. it clearly brings out the suspicious motive of the Duke.

 5. " Who'd stoop to blame/ This sort of trifling?"- What 'trifling' is referred to here? Comment on the attitude of the Speaker.

- The Duchess's frank and easy disposition, her simplicity, innocence, goodness, generosity and above all, her indiscriminating attitude to all and sundry are referred to as 'trifling'. Moreover, the Duchess's  foolish conduct is referred to as 'trifling'.

                                               Though the Duke feels unjustly treated by the duchess's  foolish conduct, he is too large-hearted to blame her for such trivial flaws. In other words, he considers it to be beneath his dignity to criticize such foolish behavior of the lady. The tone of these lines expresses the attitude of the Duke-i.e. supreme egotism, snobbery, inflated sense of dignity and uncompromising arrogance.

6. "... but who passed without/ Much the same smile?"- Whose smile is referred to here? What happened as a consequence of smiling 'much the same smile'? 

- The Duchess's smile is referred to here. The Duke says that she exchanged smile is referred to here . the Duke says that she exchanged smile not only with him whenever he passed by her, but also with anybody else who passed by her.

                      The Duchess's habit of smiling and showing appreciation to all and sundry increased so much that the Duke could no longer tolerate it. As a result, he gave certain commands to stop her smiles once and for all, i.e. to kill her as the way of teaching her a nice lesson.

7. What does the Duke of Ferrara expect from the Count's  'Known munificence'? What does he pretend to be his primary object ? 

  - The Duke of Ferrara expects dowry( Which he thinks to be his legitimate claim) from the count ( well- known for his generosity) whose daughter he is about to marry.

                            he pretends to be primarily interested in the count's daughter, dowry being of little consequence. His prevarication merely serves to underscore his hypocritical and greedy nature

8.  What did the Duke of Ferrara gift to the last Duchess through his act of marrying her?

- The Duke of Ferrara bestowed on the last Duchess the Great Gift of Nine hundred years old name ( which might be a necklace) through his act of marrying her. But he elicited the same response from the lady as a sunset scene, an officious fool and the white mule did from her. The Duke's egotism and family pride are reflected her.